Syrian White Helmets rescuers check the site of an Israeli air strike on a building in Damascus in an area where Palestinian leaders are known to reside, on Mar. 13, 2025. Photo: AFP.
The attack on an alleged PIJ site in the Syrian capital follows a recent string of heavy Israeli airstrikes on the country’s south
Israel’s military carried out an airstrike on Syria’s capital on 13 March, the latest of a series of violent Israeli airstrikes on the country recently.
סוריה: חיל האוויר תקף מפקדה של הג'יהאד האסלאמי בדמשק@Doron_Kadosh pic.twitter.com/u7a8BziIGQ
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 13, 2025
Video footage on social media shows plumes of smoke rising into the air. Other social media footage shows a building in flames as at least one casualty is seen being transported on a stretcher.
Casualties reported after the Israeli Airstrike in Damascus, Syria. pic.twitter.com/olU8Zu4Gyq
— Sprinter Observer (@SprinterObserve) March 13, 2025
According to a source cited by Reuters, the target of the attack was a Palestinian figure. Israel’s Defense Minister, Israel Katz, announced Tel Aviv’s responsibility for the attack.
“Wherever terror activity against Israel is organized, the extreme Islamic leader Julani (Sharaa) will find the Air Force aircraft flying above and striking terror targets,” he said.
The Israeli army confirmed reports that a site belonging to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement was targeted.
“Air Force fighter jets, under the direction of the Northern Command and the Intelligence Branch, attacked a terrorist headquarters of the terrorist organization PIJ in the Damascus area, from which the organization planned and conducted terrorist operations,” the army said.
It added that Israel will “continue to strike at Palestinian terrorist organizations wherever necessary.”
The attack comes as Israel has stepped up its attacks on Syria while reinforcing the widespread occupation of the country’s south, which it established in the immediate aftermath of the fall of former president Bashar al-Assad’s government last year.
The Israeli air force launched dozens of attacks on southern Syria earlier this week.
“The day before yesterday, Israeli Air Force aircraft bombed dozens of targets in southern Syria, including radars and detection devices used to build aerial intelligence images, as well as military headquarters and sites containing weapons and military equipment belonging to the former Syrian regime in southern Syria,” the Israeli army said on Wednesday.
“Twenty-two warplanes participated in the attack, dropping more than 60 bombs on southern Syria,” it added.
Israeli occupation forces swept across southern Syria after the ousting of Assad in December last year, moving past the demilitarized zone and expanding their decades-long illegal occupation in the country.
Tel Aviv has since continued to expand its occupation in Syria and has begun building permanent military sites in the southern region of the country. Israel has said its occupation in Syria will be indefinite.
Since the former government collapsed, hundreds of Israeli airstrikes have targeted military infrastructure belonging to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
